I call these "Summit Stones".....
After gathering these small rocks for many years, while out on adventures, I now splash a bit of paint on them, after 'Mixing In' very special elements with the colors. Then I give these stones back...
The musings here are simply about the wonders of adventure and inspiration. It's all about the importance of giving back and passing forward.....

Monday, July 13, 2015

"A Spirit And Story All Of Its Own..."

From the very moment I saw it, in those minutes right when I gathered it up, that stone had a wonderful story to tell...It is truly a beautiful rock, one whose form gives you a sense of its' ancient history. No way would it have been right there in that wild place; no way would it have been as shaped and as polished so finely - unless its motions over the millenia, among all those boulders, from within a nearby glacier, had taken it on its' own timeless journey. From the very moment I turned it over and over in my hand, I was beginning to envision what this stone's essence would express. You could sense from its' shape, from the lines upon and within it, from the small chips, even the tinier cracks, and especially from the smoothness over most of its' surface- what its' temperament, strength, and vigour was sharing.Here, in my hand, was truly a spirit stone...One whose character had endured all the elements had placed upon it. A stone's spirit is an essential thing, one I try to look so closely for and understand. Some have travelled so very far. Many have such unique virtue in the way they have survived the forces over so long that have attempted to break them. We adventurer's can identify dearly with these meanings. Right from the moment I gathered it up I felt I knew what this stone wanted to reveal. I sensed I knew where it wanted to be later placed. So right from where I found it as well, I gathered up small particles of every other element, to be 'mixed in' within the bright paints to be layered upon it. Now, in your hand, you may have this very stone. When I gathered it up I hoped you would find it. I hope too you sense the essence there, those wonderful intrinsic components that made it, the virtue reflecting where it has been, the meanings of the elements in the paints, and the symbolism hopefully it also represents from within your own adventures...Like Ceremony Stones and Scholar Rocks , your Summit Stone has a spirit and a story all of its' own, always calling to your longings..... DSD

"To muse: to ponder; reflect upon. In Greek & Roman Mythology, muses were the daughters of zeus; inspirers of effort, music & poetry"

"THE ACID TEST OF A TRUE ADVENTURER, IF PRESENTED WITH CERTAIN ANONYMITY, IS WHETHER EACH OF US WOULD STILL HAVE MADE THE JOURNEY BEYOND THE LAST BLUE MOUNTAIN..." M. Clark

"Eastward the dawn rose, ridge behind ridge into the morning, and vanished out of eyesight... it was no more than a glimmer blending with the hem of the sky, but it spoke to them, out of memory, and old tales, of the high and distant mountains" J.Tolkien

"We are all in some sense, mountaineers, and going to the wilderness is going home" J.Muir

"Do you know what these elements are? What they mean? These elements of fire, water, wind, earth, and metals? Do you realize that you are elemental too?" Grandfather, Mountain Elder

"A LIFE LIST, IS IN THE END, NOTHING MORE THAN A TOOL TO LOOK BACK ON OUR LIVES AND CONSIDER HOW WE SPENT OUR BRIEF MOMENTS ON EARTH. AND WHAT IF, IN THOSE FINAL BREATHS, YOU REALIZE - I NEVER GAVE ANYTHING BACK..." J.B. MACKINNON

"PEOPLE WHO SEEK ADVENTURE ARE TRUE POETS OF LIVING..." ANON

"Adventure does give you a chance to come to terms with yourself. What you find out about yourself just comes as a gift" D.Scott

"You went up that mountain one person, and have come down a very different being" Grandfather, Mountain Elder

"By walking out alone into the wilderness... I can after a while begin to see and to hear and to think and in the end to feel with a new and exciting accuracy" C.Fletcher

"Two voices are there; one is of the sea, one is of the mountains" Wordsworth

"The narrow ribbon between land and ocean is a perfect place to understand the mind of wisdom" Deng Ming-dao

"There will be a day when you will climb to a place where the mountain and the sky merge" Grey Wolf

"IF YOU TAKE THAT STONE, YOU MUST GIVE SOMETHING BACK..." GREY WOLF

"The Latin word 'finis' has two meanings: the end or finish, and a goal to reach" V.Frankl